My Current Food Obsession

Lately, I’ve been craving salads like crazy (I imagine his has something to do with all the junk food and comfort food I’ve been eating since late summer). So, inspired by a photo I saw on Pinterest, I made a week’s worth of salads in mason jars.

They’re so easy to make and I love having something to grab on my way out the door in the morning. It makes a great time-saver if you make them ahead of time.

The concept is simple: put your dressing on bottom and top with your salad toppings and then, your greens. When you want to eat it, just dump it into a bowl and enjoy. I have a bowl that folds flat that is perfect for carrying to work (from The Pampered Chef!).

The salads keep for a solid 5 days without getting soggy.

The top jar is (bottom to top):
Salsa, avocado, black beans, and spinach.

The next photo is:
(Front) Orange dressing, mandarin orange slices, sunflower seeds, and spinach.
(Back) spicy tahini dressing, cucumber, radish, sunflower seeds, spinach.

Bottom photo:
Avocado, creamy mustard vinaigrette, cucumber, cranberries, sunflower seeds, spinach.

Vegan MoFo Day 17; Dehydrating

I can’t believe it’s already day 17 of Vegan MoFo! Where has the month gone? I feel terrible about not blogging as much as I have in the past for Vegan MoFo, but, it’s been a busy month, and, honestly, when I signed up, I wasn’t sure I’d get more than a post a week in.

So, this one’s a quickie. Dehydrating is pretty easy, and you can dehydrate anything.

I usually store dehydrated goods in an airtight container in the fridge, if it’s still moist; in the freezer, if I plan on keeping it a while; or in my pantry, if I know I’ll probably be using it quickly, and there isn’t much moisture left in it.

A few dehydrating tips:

1. when foods are still warm from the dehydrator, they’re going to be more flexible than they will when they cool down.

2. try to cut your food into chunks or slices that are about the same size. That way, they’ll all be done at the same time.

3. If you’re dehydrating different foods at the same time, remember, they may not all be finished at the same time. Keep them on separate trays, so, when one is finished, you can easily remove it.

Today, I started my second-favourite dehydrated food – watermelon. It tastes like candy. You should all do it. Just remember, the watermelon will shrink to less than half its original size.

Tomorrow’s post, more peaches! Stay tuned!

Vegan MoFo weekend two; Chopped Challenge

Happy weekend, foodies!

This weekend’s challenge is a “Chopped” challenge. In our baskets this weekend, we have:

Butternut squash, popcorn, fresh rosemary, and apricot preserves

The challenge is a brunch challenge, so we have to make brunch with these four ingredients. I was totally worried at first. I’ve never cooked with popcorn before. And I certainly never would have thought to put these flavours together.

I decided to go with one of my favourite brunch/breakfast/snack items – muffins. I can’t get enough muffins. Especially if they’ve got a crumb topping.

I give you – Apricot Filled Butternut Squash Muffins with Caramel Corn Crumb Topping.

Roast a small squash (you’re only going to need a cup of mashed squash). Once it’s roasted, spoon out the inside and smash it up. Set aside.

For the caramel corn:

3 quarts popcorn (pop 1/3 C kernels in 1T coconut oil)

1/2C coconut oil (measured solid)

1C brown sugar

1/4C dark corn syrup

1/2tsp salt

1tsp vanilla

1/4tsp baking soda

melt coconut oil in sauce pan. Add brown sugar, corn syrup, and salt. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Once it’s at a boil, let it boil 5 minutes without stirring. Take off heat, add baking soda and vanilla.

Pour over popcorn, mix well. Spread popcorn over a baking pan. Bake at 250* for an hour, stirring every 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the muffins:

1/2C your favourite vegan shortening

1C sugar

1/2C non-dairy milk

1C mashed butternut squash

a 2 inch sprig of rosemary

2C flour

3tsp baking powder

1/2tsp salt

3T apricot preserves

Take leaves off rosemary stems and smash them up really well in a mortar. Add to squash.

Cream the shortening and sugar. Add non-dairy milk. Add squash/rosemary mixture.

In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking powder, and salt. Add to sugar/squash mixture.

Fill greased large muffin pan halfway. Add 1/2 tsp apricot preserves to each muffin. Top with remaining dough.

Bake at 375* for 30 minutes. Top with chopped caramel corn, and bake another 5 minutes to melt the caramel onto the muffins.

Makes 6 giant muffins, or 12 regular sized muffins.

Vegan MoFo Iron Chef Challenge; 1st Weekend: Beetroot!

Okay, so I was going to take a weekend break from Vegan MoFo blogging, as I’m running out the door to go camping. However, when I saw that beets are the secret ingredient, I couldn’t just leave it alone. One of my favourite pickled foods is beets. They’re even better if you pickle them with radishes. They’re great on sandwiches, veggie burgers, salads, and all alone. Make these.

Roasted Pickled Beets and Radishes

You’re gonna need:

6 pint jars
10 beets (about 3lbs)
4 cups radishes
1/3C sugar
1T canning salt
2 3/4 C vinegar
2 1/2 C water

Roast beets in foil for 45 minutes. Let cool, then peel. Once peeled, cut into wedges.
Cut radhishes into wedges.
Prepare your canning equipment.
In a large-ish pot, combine sugar, salt, vinegar, and water. Bring to a boil. Let it boil for about a minute. Add beets and radishes and let it all simmer until heated through. Remove from heat. Use a slotted spoon to tightly pack the beets and radishes into the jars – you’ll want to leave about an inch of headspace. Once packed, pour liquid in jars – you’ll want to leave about a half inch of headspace. After removing air bubbles, add more liquid if necessary. Place lids and rings on jars
Place jars in pot and return to a boil. Process for about 30 minutes. Once finished, let the jars sit in water for about 5 minutes. Transfer jars to a cooling rack and let sit for 24 hours. Refrigerate (and enjoy) any jars that don’t seal.

Vegan Food Swap September!

I completely forgot about my blog post for the Vegan Food Swap last month and I’m two days late.

 

I got an absolutely wonderful box from  Stacy at Stacy’s Adventures in Wonderland. It was apple-themed in honor of Michigan’s orchard season. I love apples!

 

The box included apple chips, a container of apple oatmeal, apple granola, apple spice tea, two apple pie Larabars, and a mint chocolate Endangered Species chocolate bar. I’m in apple-heaven. Thank you, Stacy!

Vegan MoFo 2012; Day 1: Happy Vegan MoFo!

It’s the first day of the Vegan Month of Food! Happy Vegan MoFo!

Still don’t know what VeganMoFo is? It’s a blogger celebration of vegan foods started 6 years ago at The Post Punk Kitchen. Read about it here.

Interested in following VeganMoFo? Check out my posts from the last two years, visit the VeganMoFo blog, pull up #VeganMoFo on Twitter, and, most importantly, subscribe to the VeganMoFo rss feed.

My theme this year is Preserving the Harvest. I know many of you around the country are winding down on their local summer harvests, but, mine still seems to be in full swing. Our pepper plants are a little out of control (There will be pepper jelly!), we still have tomato-heavy plants, and I finally got my first zucchini of the year. While we’ve still got loads of summer food left to preserve, our fall harvest is starting to come in. Our peach tree is so heavy with fruit, a huge branch broke off it. For all those peaches, we only got a few apples on three trees. Luckily, there’s a great local orchard who grows the best apples I’ve ever eaten.

I don’t know if I’ll get a post in daily this year, but, I’m shooting for 3-4 posts per week, with at least one recipe per week.

Is there anything you want to see preserved? Any preservation techniques you want me to write about? Let me know!

 

Vegan Food Swap August

Happy September! I can’t believe the summer has flown by!

Last month, I participated in the Vegan Food Swap again.  For those who didn’t catch my last food swap post, Cat over at The Verdant Life started this great food swap. Every month, she matches people up from all over the US to swap vegan goodies. It’s awesome. To sign up, go here. If you’re in Canada, sign up here.

This month, I got a wonderful box of goodies from Kim.

It contained Raw Masala Chai Super Cookies, Orange Creamsicle Kale Krunch, Krinkle Cut Salt & Pepper Kettle Chips, a Raw Revolution Spirulina Dream bar, Sea’s Gift seaweed snacks, a Double Chocolate Decadence Cookie, an Endangered Species Dark Chocolate with Forest Mint bar, and an adorable handwritten note in a beautiful card.

All the treats were wonderful. The snacks I had never tried before, I loved, and those I’m familiar with are some of my favourites.

Thank you, Kim!

Product Review: Wholesome Chow Baking Mix

A few weeks ago, One Green Planet had a giveaway for Wholesome Chow Baking Mix. I won! It arrived a few days ago, and today was the day to try it.  Wholesome Chow is vegan, gluten-free, organic, and GMO-free. It’s also available locally at Lassen’s (awesome!).

I chose the chai baking mix, because, well, I might be a bit addicted to chai flavoured anything.

I don’t have too much experience with gluten-free baking. I know how to do it, I can do it, I just usually choose not too unless there’s demand for it.

I chose to make a loaf of bread instead of cupcakes or a cake, and it was a great decision. The slices are perfect topped with a dab of Earth Balance Coconut Butter.

The bread itself was super easy to make. The only ingredients I had to add were apple cider vinegar, non-dairy milk, and oil. Whisk away, bake, and enjoy like crazy. It’s light, fluffy, perfectly sweet, and perfectly spiced. I’ll definitely be buying it in the future. Check them out. Want to find a store near you? Do it! While you’re at it, look them up on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.

Cucumber Ice Cream

Right now, my most prolific garden plant is the cucumber. I’ve been eating them (and drinking them) like crazy.

This means I’ve felt the need to get creative with them, so, today, I made ice cream. It’s awesome. Sweet and cucumbery with a hint of ginger and vanilla. Next time, I’ll make sure I have candied ginger in the house and I’ll throw a handful of it into the ice cream instead of the ground ginger.

Cucumber Ice Cream

2 6inch cucumbers

2TBL powdered sugar

2TBL Dark Agave Syrup

2tsp ground ginger

2C non-dairy creamer (I actually used 2C of Rich’s Non-dairy Whipped Topping, and liquid Soyatoo would work just fine too)

Blend cucumbers in food processor until you have a smooth, thick liquid. It should be 1-1.5 cups of thick liquid. Process powdered sugar, agave, and ginger until mixed well.

Fold in whipped topping. (You can whip it up a bit, which will make for an awesome fluffy ice cream)

Add to ice cream maker for 30ish minutes, or until frozen.

Vegan Food Swap

Happy last day of May!

This month, I participated in the Vegan Food Swap, hosted by Cat at The Verdant Life. Two bloggers are matched up every month, they send each other food in the middle of the month, and blog about it at the end of the month. Awesome! If you’re a US resident interested in signing up for June, go here by June 4. If you’re a resident of Canada and would like to participate, head to MeShell’s page to sign up.

I got a really fun package together for Haley at Health Freak College Girl. Check out her Food Swap Post.

Unfortunately, my package never arrived. Better luck next month! I can’t wait to participate for June.